The Mint Report for 02 Febuary 2010

Citigroup plans to sell 5% stake in MCX; government expects to make more than 8,000 crores on NTPC stake sale; auto companies add capacity, but analysts worry about glut.

Web Text: The Multi Commodity Exchange or MCX will soon see a change in its ownership pattern. Mint has learnt that Citigroup Mauritius Strategic Holdings is selling a 5% stake in MCX to a private equity firma called the Ashmore Group for $40 million. An MCX official has told Mint the proposed deal still needs to by approved regulators. The troubled Citigroup has been selling it stakes in brokerages worldwide as part of its efforts to raise capital.

The government expects to raise a fortune from its sale of NTPC shares. It has fixed a floor price of Rs201 per share for the roughly 412 million shares it plans to offload. That means the government could raise about Rs8,288 crore. The sale of NTPC’s shares will start on 3 February and will go on for three days.

In auto news, Bajaj Auto has seen its January sales more than double. Total sales stood at nearly 233,000 two-wheelers compared to just under 110,00 in January last year.

And bumper sales across the auto sector are encouraging companies to expand their capacity on a priority basis. India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, recently announced it would invest Rs1,700 crore to produce a quarter of a million more vehicles every year. And soon after that, Hero Honda said it was hoping to add a fourth factory next year, taking its capacity to 5.4 million units per year. Analysts have told Mint India is likely to account for nearly half the increase in global capacity between 2007 and 2012. But all may not be looking up. A survey by KPMG indicates that 43% of industry executives say India could face a glut of capacity in the next 6-10 years.